title: Effects of acute alcohol intoxication on saccadic conflict and error processing.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Flexible behavior optimization relies on cognitive control which includes the ability to suppress automatic responses interfering with relevant goals. Extensive evidence suggests that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is the central node in a predominantly frontal cortical network subserving executive tasks. Neuroimaging studies indicate that the ACC is sensitive to acute intoxication during conflict, but such evidence is limited to tasks using manual responses with arbitrary response contingencies.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The present study was designed to examine whether alcohol's effects on top-down cognitive control would generalize to the oculomotor system during inhibition of hardwired saccadic responses.
  
  
  METHODS
  Healthy social drinkers (N = 22) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning and eye movement tracking during alcohol (0.6 g/kg ethanol for men, 0.55 g/kg for women) and placebo conditions in a counterbalanced design. They performed visually guided prosaccades (PS) towards a target and volitional antisaccades (AS) away from it. To mitigate possible vasoactive effects of alcohol on the BOLD (blood oxygenation level-dependent) signal, resting perfusion was quantified with arterial spin labeling (ASL) and used as a covariate in the BOLD analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Saccadic conflict was subserved by a distributed frontoparietal network. However, alcohol intoxication selectively attenuated activity only in the ACC to volitional AS and erroneous responses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides converging evidence for the selective ACC vulnerability to alcohol intoxication during conflict across different response modalities and executive tasks, confirming its supramodal, high-level role in cognitive control. Alcohol intoxication may impair top-down regulative functions by attenuating the ACC activity, resulting in behavioral disinhibition and decreased self-control.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of California at San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive MC 0841, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0841, USA, xenia@ucsd.edu.
authors.forename: Ksenija
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Marinkovic
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rickenbacher
authors.forename: Sheeva
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Azma
authors.forename: Elinor
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Artsy
authors.forename: Adrian K C
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D012438:Saccades / Q000187:drug effects*; D013113:Spin Labels; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D013113:Spin Labels